The Guardian newspaper published an article on the impact of the disability benefit cuts as enacted on the first of April under the Welfare Reform Act 2011 today. My comment was as follows :
I've had a broken joint in my spine for three years. It went a week after I was made redundant. The DWP were forced to accept I was disabled after my first tribunal. Now, my ESA of £128 per fortnight is gone as I have been like this more than a year and still have more than 16k in savings. Despite this, my claim is still open as the DWP continue to pay one's NI contributions. As the claim is open I still have to attend a second tribunal in a month's time in order to contest a second medical assessment's ruling that though disabled, having a broken spine does not affect my ability to work. Given that I was already in the "limited capacity for work" category, I failed to see how this ruling was arrived at. Apparently the criteria have also been changed. If you can get yourself 100 yards by any means and regardless or whether you possess those means (e.g. wheelchair), you are entirely fit for work.
I am now 48 and this is the first time I have been out of work since 17. I have applied for over 1000 jobs now and live in an area that, theoretically, has weathered the recession well. I have had 5 interviews in that time, 3 of which could not even be bothered to tell me the outcome. One other told me that in their opinion my previous employer had been under utilising my skills and that I should be seeking work in the 40-45k mark given my qualifications and experience. Those sort of jobs are not exactly thick on the ground in good times, let alone now. I have had zero assistance in getting back to work despite numerous requests for information on "work programmes". I have lost count of the number of applications whereby I have been told that I am not being called for interview because I am "over-qualified". I did have a couple of hours permitted work as a school run escort. I had to stop this as the rules only permit limited work for a year and then you have to either cease your claim for ESA for 12 weeks and then start a new one or cease working for a year! I am living on the monies I put by for my old age so I fully expect to have accusations of being irresponsible over making provision for myself once I get to pensionable age in addition to repeated accusations of trying to cheat the benefits system by certain politicians. Unsurprisingly I am depressed and anxious most of the time.
Ref:// Guardian article
